Small Changes (Blake)
by LadyOfWar2005
Summary: Even the smallest of changes can turn a traumatic story into a wonderful fantasy. For Blake, this change came around when a new tea shop opened. (Oneshot set during Season 1 Episode 15) (Older Harry)


**Blake Belladonna **

"_There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin - people like YOU - that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"_

_Blake Belladonna_

* * *

Blake cursed as she stormed down the streets of Vale, cursing the Schnee princess for her bigoted views on faunus, swearing to every god that was out there that she was going to prove not all members of the White Fang were bad, and most of all berating herself for how bad she just lost her temper. Then, to top off the shit pile that was her day, she'd practically screamed her biggest secret right in her teammates faces! It wasn't fair, not after all the trouble she went through to bury her past and get away with a clean slate; she even went so far as to give up valuable and hidden information only high ranking members of the Fang were privy to. Yet since when was life ever fair to her, since when did life give a crap about what Blake Belladonna wanted? Maybe that's why she's storming towards one of two places in all of Vale that she actually feels in control, if not at least just a bit relaxed.

Kettle Kalls was a quante little tea shop Blake stumbled upon during some of the rare free time students get on the weekends, with airships dropping them off somewhat early in the morning and picking them up no later than eight at night. It's red brick design made it stand out among the concrete buildings that surrounded it, especially with it's fancy large windows, shaded area for those that wanted to relax outside, and more importantly the _tea_. More often than not, Blake would escape her rambunctious teammates by sneaking off to this place; a place she knew they would never think of looking for her. Yang was a party animal in almost every sense of the word and tea wasn't her thing, Ruby was a sugar addict the likes of which Remnant had never seen before, and _Weiss_ preferred her coffee to anything else.

Blake let out a low and depressed sigh as she collapsed into one of the many outside chairs, which sat under a green canopy to block the sun, and just let the crushing weight of her recent decisions slam down upon her already damaged soul. Yet, by the time her yellow eyes opened, she found a white lily decorated tea cup placed in front of her with a man already pouring fresh tea into the cup. On the other end of the teapot stood an older man, the owner of the shop and someone who always seemed to know what kind of tea Blake wanted.

He was an older looking man, even if he still looked like he sculpted out of marble, of maybe his early fifties. Streaks of grey ran through his combed raven black hair, which matched the few streaks that ran through his neatly trimmed beard. He wore a simple white dress shirt, with all the trimmings, along with a pair of black pants and expertly polished shoes. Yet it was his eyes that drew the most attention, shining like twin emeralds when the light hits them just right.

"You look troubled, I hope your team hasn't been giving you a hard time," Blake couldn't place his accent, but the sound of it was both soothing and exciting all at the same time.

"Thanks, Harry," Blake slowly picked up her teacup and took a slow sip, her whole body practically turning into jello as the warm liquid glided down her throat; leaving behind a more than pleasant aftertaste, "And you could say it has something to do with my team. I...I told them what I really am and who I was before coming here."

"I see, how'd they take it?" Harry asked, setting the teapot down on the table and moving to take the chair across from Blake.

"I...don't know to be honest," Blake let out a shaky breath, "I just screamed the truth at them and took off. The funny thing is that I was actually planning on telling them today of all days. I was gonna tell Yang first, she's surprisingly the most open about things, but then Weiss just started going off about the White Fang and I lost my temper."

Harry leaned back in his chair, crossed one leg over the other, placed his hands in his lap, and gave Blake the most deadpan look she'd ever seen; which was rather impressive given her own mastery over the look. The one thing Blake appreciated most about the man who served her tea, who had somehow gained her trust and wormed through her walls in only a matter of weeks, was just how blunt he could be sometimes. She didn't know how he came to be the way he was, Harry only ever said that he was from out of town and moved to Vale to get away from it all, but he was unlike any human she'd ever seen before.

"So in other words you both jumped the gun just a little bit, reveal something about yourself that you'd kept hidden, and are now afraid to face your teammates for what they might think of you," Harry summed up rather neatly, noting the way Blake's ears fell flat against her head while she took another hasty sip of her tea.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well the way I see it, in my own humble opinion, is that you should go out there right now and find your friends. From what you told me about them, I think you'll be more than a little surprised at how understanding they can be; even the Schnee girl," that wasn't what Blake expected to hear, although to be honest she shouldn't be all that surprised given who she was talking to.

"You really think they'll still want to be my friend, after I hid so much about myself from them?" Blake asked with a bit of uneasiness in her tone; she trusted humans before and it didn't always work out well in the end.

"Like I said, you might be surprised. I'll tell you what, if you go out there right now and find your friends then tomorrow you can all come here and talk things out. I'll give you guys one of the booths in the back and anything you guys order will be on me," Harry really did know how to get Blake's attention, especially because she jumped to her feet a second later.

"I'll go find the right now!" Blake suddenly took off with an uncharacteristically large smile on her face, only to pause when she got only a few yards away before turning back to face Harry, "Thank you."

"It's my genuine pleasure. Now run along, it's a big city and who knows what they may be getting up to with you not around to watch them," Harry made a shoeing motion with his hand as he himself got up from the table, picked up the teacup and pot, and moved to walk back into his little café.

It wouldn't be till a few hours later that Harry finally closed up, now dressed in a fine black suit with a long overcoat and a well-crafted cane look to be made of pure silver. The cane itself was highly ornate, with many intricate carvings going down the shaft while the handle was shaped in the head of a roaring lion. However, it was once he turned around that he found he was no longer alone. For standing just off his property was a young man a little older than Blake, but it was no mystery to Harry as to who this young man was. After all, he was the one that Blake left behind.

"Apologies, young man, but I just closed up for the evening," Harry said, acting as if he had no idea who the sword wielding teenager before him truly was, "If you come back in the morning I'd be more than happy to serve you a good cup."

"I don't think I'll ever understand how Blake can so easily trust you humans, your stench is nauseating," the teenage boy insulted rather childishly, not flinching when Harry's eyes narrowed just a bit in irritation.

"Now you're just being rude," Harry lightly chastised, only for his gaze to harden even more when the boy slowly drew the crimson blade at his side.

"Maybe this will teach her why befriending humans is such a bad idea. It's nothing personal, but your death will be my message to her. She can't escape me," the boy shot forward almost faster than a normal human could blink, his sword already poised to take Harry's head right off his shoulders.

Yet that's not exactly what happened, even when everything pointed to the fact that Harry's head should now be rolling on the concrete while his body fell lifelessly to the ground. Instead of Adam's sword doing its job, it was instead frozen in place no more than half a centimeter away from Harry's neck while Harry himself just continued to gaze into Adam's eyes through the boy's mask. Being quick on his feet, Adam swiftly spun around and aimed for the other side of Harry's neck, only for the same results of his blade being stopped by seemingly invisible force. Harry just continued watching with an amused expression as this rather angry young man continued to hack and slash away at him without ever landing so much as a single blow.

"You're a huntsman, aren't you?" Adam asked as he jumped back a few feet, his sword arm shaking as if he'd been striking at a solid piece of metal instead of a human, "No one's aura is that strong, it has to be your semblance."

"I'm sure it's something like that, but who can say for sure? Now, you can continue standing there and trying to kill me, or can I finally be on my way?" Harry was being purposefully condescending, children were always so easy to rile up when they thought they were being talked down to by someone older than them, and Adam acted as protectively as possible.

This time, when the red haired Faunus went in for a strike, his whole body froze before he could even get within a yard of his target. It wasn't just his sword that was stopped but his entire body, leaving him pinned there like a living statue while Harry took this opportunity to walk right up to him. Now standing face-to-face with Blake's stockier, Harry's emerald eyes seemed to gain a new light to them; quite literally in fact. His entire body was surrounded by a soft green field of energy, making wind shoot out all around him as he continued to stare into the boy's eyes.

"I think it's time somebody taught you some manners."

From Adam's point of view, everything went black after those words.


End file.
